Little Stars
by love at third sight
Summary: For some reason, he had wanted to leave the Kaientai. SakaMutsu.


a/n: I try not to make all my shipping stories a standard formula, but sometimes that's just how it is.

i have a tumblr crush on this person. and she really likes the SakaMutsu ship. so. yeah.

* * *

-x-

_Give me my Romeo. And when I shall die,  
__Take him and cut him out in little stars,  
__And he will make the face of heaven so fine  
__That all the world will be in love with night  
__And pay no worship to the garish sun._

- Shakespeare, "_Romeo and Juliet"_

-x-

Mutsu reloaded her pistol as she hopped aboard the ship. It was business as usual; Sakamoto was going to act like an idiot every meeting they had with the other intergalactic merchants, so it was up to her to clear the smoke and actually getting down to stamping the contracts of ownership, so to speak.

"Ya know, Mutsu, I was wonderin' if we had time to go back to Earth after this meeting."

"Why? So you can blow your cash on some whore?"

He winced and then laughed good-naturedly. "_Ahahaha_ - good one. But no." He handed her a slip of paper. "I wanted to resign."

Mutsu looked at him. And then the massive fleet of the Kaientai that stretched from the heavens to the ground they were sitting on.

"We'll talk later about this," she said. "For now, let's concentrate on securing that deal for now."

He nodded.

-x-

Walking up, they made a smooth partnership. With his blustering introductions, it wasn't hard to see why they were formidable merchants who mostly succeeded at what they did. Sakamoto was charming and goofy, leaving behind a non-intimidating impression, enough to let their guards down, while Mutsu spoke with a razor sharpness that caught them by surprise. Her mind worked out the details while Sakamoto reassured them yes, this was important, and of course, they wanted to keep up with the fair share of the bargain.

It'd been a steady companionship - he had seen her grow into adulthood and yet nothing had changed. He treated her as an adult - an equal, something that she had desperately needed after her father became sick.

Except for now.

Now that they were back on the Kaientai, she pushed him down into his chair and glared at him. "Explain," she said roughly.

He scratched the back of his head. "I was thinkin' of what Kintoki did, you know? I guess after ten years of doing this, I'm starting to feel like I gotta settle down. You know. Get married, have kids, and stay on Earth."

"You're the captain on this ship," she said. "You can't just decide to leave randomly. That's now how it works."

"I wasn't planning on it," he said quietly. "In fact - "

He pulled out one of the ignition keys to the mainland ship, pressing it into her palm. " - I was gonna promote _you_ to captain. The Kaientai's all yours, Mutsu... I gotta stay on Earth a while and think about what I wanna do. Maybe I'll start up a new fleet. There's just something boring about running a successful merchant ship."

Her fingers closed on the key. "Tatsuma, you gotta be jokin'. Seriously."

"Never been more serious in my life," he said, smiling wryly.

"You're gonna miss it," Mutsu said fiercely. "I dunno why you're going through a mid-life crisis here. This - ain't it your dream to be doing what you're doing right now? You told me you wanted to improve human-Amanto relations, for Christ's sake - "

"Appreciate the reminder, but I gotta take a break," he insisted. He looked at his watch - he kept two, one for Earth time and another holographic timetable for all the major inter-galaxies they frequently traveled to.

"Hmm, there's gonna be a wormhole in a bit. I'll be taking a space-pod. 'Til then, Mutsu... Good luck."

"Wait! You haven't told the rest of the crew!"

He turned back, taking off his sunglasses. "Actually, they knew two weeks before you did. I asked them to keep it a secret because I knew you'd react like this. Later."

-x-

"Vice Captain - er, I mean - Captain, are you sure about this?"

"It's his decision," Mutsu said sharply. "If he wants ta let go of all this, then that's his prerogative."

Deep down, she had never felt more betrayed than ever.

They had worked for a little over a decade and she had gotten used to his easy companionship. She wasn't good at making friends but he was there for her, teaching her the Tosa accent and how to smile like a decent human being.

Yatos didn't smile. They didn't choose to go on merchant ships, either. She figured she'd escape the bloodshed that came from her own planet by escaping with her father. Then she found out her father wasn't any better - slave ships were dull and exhausting work, not to mention downright despicable - and on top of that, the entire crew planned to commit mutiny after her father had grown extremely ill.

Sakamoto had been a godsend. This wasn't something she would admit openly, but that was the incontrovertible truth. Her strength as a Yato could be put to good use by wiggling out of tough and uncompromising situations, especially as space merchants dealt with pirates more often shortly after the discovery of planet Earth.

He had given her new life, by teaching her the worth of people and the art of bargaining.

"Mutsu, dear, you want some tea?" Maruko asked. Everyone called her Granny but Mutsu preferred the ease of names. Besides, it kept things between them more professional.

"No thank you."

"Such a polite girl," the old lady said, pouring herself a cup and leaving another empty on Mutsu's table. "I'm sure it must be hard on you, losing that man."

"I'll be fine," she said evenly. "He was only a nuisance anyway."

-x-

"Where's yer partner, girly? Thought I saw him a few months ago with ya when we were trading arms."

"He left," Mutsu said coldly. She had never enjoyed being categorized as a woman by the get-go. Yet taking off her hat that hid her face and the long cape, it was inevitable.

In a few ways, she missed her standard Yato umbrella, because at the very least it had afforded her a symbol of threat. If you were a Yato, it didn't matter if you were male or female - you were a walking atomic bomb, and that was the reality of it.

She just didn't want to rely on that to carry out business. It wasn't prudent to attract unwanted attention, and Sakamoto wouldn't have appreciated her turning the Kaientai into a fleet known for a scary warrior woman.

Besides, the fleet crew depended on everyone, not on her ego. She sighed inwardly and quickly straightened up, ready to get down to business.

-x-

A month had passed by on the ship, marked by the automatic Earth calendar on their ship. Sakamoto hadn't bothered to contact her, and a dull ache came into her heart once she realized that she forgotten to ask him for a phone number. Not that it was all that easy to message him all the way from space, but...

_Tatsuma. What are you doin'? Are you wasting time out in the host clubs, drinking until yer passed out? Or are you really gonna go up to Oryou for real and ask her if she's willin' to marry you? After all, you've made a lot of money. I've seen it before. I did the accounts and it's honestly kinda impressive._

_... I keep rememberin' that you never treated me like a kid, even when you met me for the first time. I don't know why I had to mention that. I guess now that I'm a lot older I realize that I took that for granted. You let me push you around because I didn't have anyone else to push around._

_I wish you were here. I don't know how to lead people. The crew is the same but I keep being afraid that one day they're gonna come up with a mutiny or do something bad against me. It's not that I'm worried for myself. But I wouldn't want to hurt them or nothing. You taught me that the value of a good comrade is beyond measure. And I feel it whenever you're not here at our weekly meetings or boring agenda talks. You used to joke and make fun of everyone except for Maruko because you knew you'd be an asshole if you did. Now everyone just goddamn sleeps at these meetings and it's all my fault._

_Come back._

_I miss you._

She tore the letter into fourths and tossed them into the waste combustible.

"Idiot," she muttered to herself. "I'm a hopeless idiot."

-x-

"We got a new contact," reported her subordinate. "His name's, uh, kinda flashy. They call him the Dragon of Katsurahama. Not sure if that stands for anything, but y'know."

"Right," Mutsu said listlessly. "So, what does he wanna trade?"

"Well, he's got Earth vegetables - potatoes, radishes, carrots? I mean, I wouldn't mind if we hauled in fresh veggies for our canteen, ya know Captain? The whole food in a tube thing is getting _seriously_ old."

"Okay. Call him in then."

Two days later, they had set up a meeting in her office cabin. The captain was a weirdo: he wore a long floppy hat with yellow rubber gloves. Gardener exemplified.

He extended his hand. "Hey, thanks for letting me sit here."

"What's your proposition?" she said bluntly, neither in the mood to entertain anyone.

"Don't be so mean." The man took off his hat. "... I've missed you, Mutsu."

It was really him in the flesh. The familiar sunglasses and mop of curly hair could have only worked on a man like him. Her breathing became shallow.

"Tatsuma... the hell are ya doing here?"

"You were kinda right, if I was honest." He took off his rubber gloves, running a hand through his brown locks. "After a week of hanging out with the host ladies, I kinda missed the whole routine of not knowing what was gonna happen the next day, you know what I mean?"

She smiled. "Of course."

"So I decided there wasn't a point in going back to your ship, considerin' I'd just be demoted to mover boy or whatever sadistic shenanigans you'd come up with... So the hell with it. I bought a small ship and did some trading. I knew you'd have to come closer to Edo eventually, so I just waited until word came along."

He bought a jar of pickled radishes out of his bag. "Remember these? You used to like them."

"... Just come back, and you'll be captain again," Mutsu said.

"Hm?"

She turned away. "Just come back, is what I said."

"Really? You mean it?"

"Tatsuma, you asshat. Don't leave me ever again."

The two of them smiled. She tossed the ignition key back to him.

"Welcome back, captain."

"The same to you, Mutsu."

-x-

_the end_

-x-

omake:

"So, I think my next plan is to say I might actually be in love with you."

Mutsu sputtered out her sake. "WHAT. THE. FUCK."

"Ahahahaha - was that too sudden? I guess I musta realized it when I finally ticked up all the times you saved me. I mean, I figure it's kinda one thing to know that while you'll never match up to Oryou, but it's another to know that the right woman's always been in front of me all this time, you know?"

Mutsu sighed. "You're an idiot. But okay. As long as we keep it hidden from the crew - "

"But I already told everyone!"

'WHY AM I THE LAST ONE TO KNOW YOU ROTTEN BASTAAAAAAAARD - "

* * *

a/n: why do i ship unpopular ships (keels over and weeps)

review pls


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